Ramblings — Musings — Cynical conversation

Let them eat cake (and pizza).

I’d love it if someone explained to me how catering a hypothetical gay wedding infringes on someone else’s religious beliefs. As an atheist, I’ve firmly held that using scripture to determine whether you treat someone as a first-class or second-class citizen is barbaric, particularly for a country that prides itself on being called the “greatest in the world,” but the brouhaha/kerfuffle in Indiana, specifically over a pizzeria in Walkerton, just makes me sad. If your religion dictates that you should treat another human being as less than you because they prefer the genitals of their own gender when engaging in sexual activity, maybe you need a new religion. All this really is, is a thinly veiled attempt at turning the United States into a Christian version of Saudi Arabia, which frankly, should terrify everyone that lives here. For all the bellyaching, bitching, complaining, and warmongering they do about Arab countries and how Islam is dangerous and a threat and blah blah blah, they sure seem intent on copying a lot of their behavior, just with the added bonus of switching out “Allah” for “God” in the text.

Whether you’re a pizzeria, a bakery, a florist shop, or a car wash, you’re in business to make money. Why any business person would turn away a potential customer is beyond my realm of understanding. If lived in Walkerton, I’d put a giant rainbow flag outside my establishment, letting all gay people around know that I’d be glad to take their money and give them my product in return, since the whole point of being in business is to make money. With how Americans, particularly Republicans, worship the almighty dollar, you’d think their capitalist sensibilities would override any religious objections to two men or two women getting it on. Money isn’t gay or straight.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter, because someone that works for Glenn Beck started a GoFundMe page for the beleaguered establishment, and bigots all over the country have contributed nearly a million dollars to the cause, essentially showing that the adage about a fool and their money being soon parted was never more accurate.

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One comment

dancinglemur
· April 21, 2015

I’ll do my best to explain what the mindset is (assuming that you actually *want* an explanation). I will use the example of the baker (referring to both cakes and pizza).

Essentially, the baker’s logic (as I see it) is this: “By making a cake for a wedding/catering pizza, I BELIEVE (I’ll come back to this) that I am endorsing a gay wedding. Gay sex is something that goes against my religion. I have the freedom in this country to act according to my religious beliefs. Thus, I can deny service to this gay wedding because it would violate my conscience to cater for it.”

Now, whether you agree with this logic or not (and I assume you wouldn’t, being an atheist), the whole argument hinges on the word “believe.” As was argued in the excellent book “Why Tolerate Religion,” by Brian Leiter, the government cannot deny anybody the right to make claims of conscience, whether they be secular or religious.
I suggest reading the book (I am not in any way connected with the author or publisher).

In addition, is it a *right* for people to be served at any non-governmental-affiliated business that they want?

Also, note that nobody (except crackpots) has said that they will deny ALL service to gays. They only deny service when they believe that are supporting or endorsing gay marriage. I would be careful in throwing around the word “bigot” unless you do your best to understand the “bigot’s” opinion first. Name-calling is not exactly conducive to a healthy conversation.